Vote of Thanks from Mr. Howard C. Dickson Government Chief Information Officer and Chairman, Organising Committee of the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2007 at the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2007 Awards Presentation Ceremony
21 January 2008

Mr. [John] Tsang, Frederick, Rita, Professor Lau, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you all for joining the Awards Presentation Ceremony of the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2007, and my warmest congratulations to all the award winners. The Awards have received great support from the industry and the community. This makes the event a resounding success.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our senior leaders in the Government for joining us tonight amidst your busy schedules. Your gracious presence is testimony to the Government's commitment to supporting the ICT development in Hong Kong.

As the Chairman of the Organising Committee, I am honoured to work with my fellow committee members throughout the year to organise the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2007. The success of the Awards would not have been possible without your passion and pursuit of excellence.

My appreciation also goes to the Grand Judging Panel and the individual judging panels for your professionalism in the painstaking adjudication process. I would also like to convey my heartfelt thanks to all leading organisers, supporting organisations and sponsors. Your dedication, contributions and generosity have helped make the Awards a most prestigious and mega event of the ICT industry.

Tonight I am very delighted to see such a great turnout of our ICT elite here. You have made great contributions in transforming Hong Kong into an Information Society. The Government highly appreciates the excellent achievements of our local ICT professionals and organisations. Whilst the award categories bring out the best of our innovations in products, services and applications, we are equally mindful of the importance of continuous development of our ICT workforce and talent pool which will ensure sustainability and future of our Information Society.

Just to name a few initiatives, we have facilitated the development of a Qualifications Framework for the ICT industry. Under the Framework, many of you have contributed to the development of the first "Specification of Competency Standards" in respect of "Software Products and Software Services". To promote the IT professional status and capacity in Hong Kong, we have sponsored and supported a number of projects, like the study on "IT Professional Certification System and IT Manpower Roster Initiatives". Under this initiative, a Certification Scheme for three IT professional titles, namely Project Director, Systems Architect and Quality Assurance Manager, was successfully implemented. Riding on this success, we have supported the extension of the Scheme to three more titles this year.

We also place high hope in our younger generation. We have been sponsoring and supporting a wide variety of initiatives in this area. For example, the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited has launched a government-funded digital entertainment internship programme to enable graduates to gain practical working experience through attachment to local digital entertainment companies. The next round of the programme will commence early this year. We have also been sponsoring the IT student exchange programmes since 2002. The sponsorship aims to expose Hong Kong students to the digital world and encourage tertiary institutions to organise IT-related exchange programmes with overseas and Mainland institutions.

All in all, the Government is committed to ICT manpower development in Hong Kong, in order to meet the needs of commerce and economic development and activities. We welcome industry participation in any suggestion on worthy projects.

Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight we celebrate the excellent performances and achievements of the award winners. As in all competitions, the participation, the teamwork and cross-fertilisation of ideas and the partnerships that ensue are for all to take away. I hope all participants have benefited from taking part in the Awards and wish you all the best in your endeavours.

Thank you very much!

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